Iranian Protester Shot While Fleeing, Brother Arrested After Trying to Help

Iranwire – According to information obtained by IranWire, suppressive forces began firing from street level around 9:00 PM on the evening of January 9 in Najafabad, Isfahan.

No warning was given before the shooting began. Tear gas was first used to disperse the crowd, followed by gunfire. Local sources say: “That night, live ammunition and tear gas were used. Of course, before they started using live rounds, they fired birdshot several times; the crowd dispersed initially but gathered again, chanting slogans with even greater anger.”

Aidin was trying to escape the gunfire when he was shot from behind, with the bullet hitting his thigh. An eyewitness says people simply started running without looking back, so they do not know whether the first shots were fired into the air.

When Aidin was hit, two people beside him said he was still alive and tried to get him to a hospital. On protest nights, suppressive forces have often opened fire and killed citizens who were merely passersby before demonstrations had even fully begun. But according to information obtained by IranWire, Aidin was not a bystander. He was a protester who had come to the street specifically to take part in the demonstrations.

With the help of local residents, and after a 90-minute delay, Aidin was finally taken to “Shahid Mohammad Montazeri Hospital.” Those who helped him say moving the wounded under those conditions was extremely difficult. Aidin was still conscious, so they hid for some time inside the house of a citizen who had left their door open until it was safe to move again, as the streets were blocked. After waiting an hour and a half, another citizen used a personal car to take Aidin to the hospital. Throughout those hours, he remained alive.

Around 1:00 AM, at the end of the night of January 9, a nurse or another member of the medical staff offered condolences to a friend who was checking on Aidin’s condition. That friend immediately informed the Samayi family.

The family went to the hospital, but staff claimed that no one matching Aidin’s description had been admitted. This was despite the fact that, only hours earlier, Aidin’s brother, Mohammad-Amin Samayi, had been told to bring Aidin’s national ID card so the hospital could admit him using his national ID number. Reports say that after a confrontation with hospital security, Mohammad-Amin was arrested by law enforcement officers and remains in custody.

After Aidin’s parents went to the hospital and got no answers, they began searching other hospitals the next morning. They looked through Milad, Al-Zahra, Shafa Najafabad, Emam Moussa, and Khorshid hospitals, as well as the Isfahan Forensic Medicine Center. Finally, on January 14 (24 Dey), they found Aidin’s body at the forensic morgue. They were told he had died on January 11 from severe bleeding.

The family has the death certificate, but they have not published it or spoken about it because of threats from IRGC Intelligence officers. An autopsy was also carried out by the forensic department.

When the family was finally allowed to see Aidin’s body, there were two bullet wounds, one in the chest and one in the thigh. However, the forensic report did not mention the exact number of bullets.

An informed source told IranWire that, according to those who brought Aidin to the hospital, he was alive, conscious, and still had a pulse, with only one bullet wound in his thigh. But when the family received the body, there was also a gunshot wound to the chest. According to the source, a person shot in the chest could not survive for more than an hour with a pulse while being transported. The family therefore suspects that the second shot to the chest may have happened at the hospital, something they say, “We hope is not true.”

The family was never given a copy of the autopsy report, and the death certificate issued by the forensic department did not mention where the bullets had struck. The hospital also did not return any of Aidin’s belongings, not even his clothes. The family received only his body, wrapped in a shroud.

A local source described the suppressive forces this way: “The forces wore dark brown uniforms, special helmets, tactical vests, and tall boots. That night, black Special Unit (Yegan-e Vizheh) vehicles were present.” Eyewitnesses say they still do not know exactly which organization those uniforms belonged to.

According to these accounts, the shooting at protesters was carried out from street level, mostly from behind. At the hospital, there was no mention of “bullet money” which is sometimes charged by the state before releasing bodies, but the family was given a form to complete. In that form, they were asked to write that Aidin was a Basij member who had been killed by “rioters.” Aidin’s father was also forced to sign a commitment stating that any version of events different from the official narrative could bring even heavier judicial consequences for his other son, Mohammad-Amin, who is still in detention.

In order to receive the body, the family was forced to sign papers saying that Aidin had been a Basij member during middle and high school and that he had been committed to the Islamic Republic and the Supreme Leader. They were even asked whether he was Hafiz, so that detail could be added to his file. They were told that the more such items were included, the more “points” or “merit” it would add to the case.

They were then shown CCTV footage of a boy being shot from behind. It was not clear whether the person in the footage was Aidin, but the family was forced to confirm that it was their son. Then they were shown another CCTV clip of a person in civilian clothes, not military or police, firing from behind a car. They were told that this was the “rioter” who had shot their son. Finally, the father was made to sign a statement saying that the situation had been “clarified” for him and that “rioters” were responsible for his son’s death.

Aidin Buried Under Silence and Severe Security Threats

Aidin’s body was buried at noon on January 14 in the village of Khondab in Najafabad. He had no connection to that area and was not originally from there. The burial site was chosen by security forces.

The funeral was held under extremely restricted conditions and in total silence, with security forces themselves transporting the body to the cemetery. Only Aidin’s parents and two aunts with their husbands were allowed to attend. Many of his friends and relatives were not even told when the burial would take place.

No memorial service was held. The family was not allowed to print a funeral notice or gather at the home of Aidin’s father, Mahmoud Samayi, to receive condolences. More than forty days after the tragedy, Aidin’s father still had very limited contact with relatives and neighbors. Although the grave is in a remote village far from Isfahan, agents were stationed there on his 40th-day anniversary, and the family was not allowed to place a gravestone.

When the family received the body, they saw many injuries, including wounds on his forehead. Witnesses say he likely suffered them when he fell after being shot in the leg. Both bullet wounds were visible, along with a very large bruise on his chest.

The family says security forces wrote a threatening text, and that the father, a retiree, was pressured into signing documents without knowing exactly what they contained. Their home is also reportedly under surveillance. In one case, after the father put up a funeral notice outside the house, agents entered the home and, after a verbal confrontation, beat him and his wife with batons.

Why was Mohammad-Amin arrested?

On the night Aidin was taken to the hospital, security forces refused to let them in. A citizen then called Mohammad-Amin and asked him to bring Aidin’s ID card so he could be admitted, even though Aidin was an emergency case.

When Mohammad-Amin arrived, he protested angrily and asked why nothing had been done in the emergency room while his brother was bleeding heavily. Reports say hospital security then clashed with him, using profanity and physical force. In the end, security handed him over to the police. All of this happened on the same night Aidin went “missing,” while the hospital continued to deny having such a patient.

After the burial, the father, physically and mentally exhausted, continued searching for Mohammad-Amin. It was eventually discovered that he was being held in Dastgerd Prison. A lawyer was later found, but the case file reportedly includes fabricated political charges and accusations of “carrying a weapon.” It is also said that Mohammad-Amin was tortured into making a confession and signing statements for things he had not done.

University Suspension during “Woman, Life, Freedom”

Aidin was a poet and an electrical engineering student. In 2022, during the “Woman, Life, Freedom” protests, he took part in student demonstrations during his first semester and was suspended for two terms. He loved his field of study and had worked hard to get in, but after the suspension, he eventually left university and went in search of work.

He was calm and introverted, with a deep love for animals, especially cats, dogs, and birds. He was also incredibly kind, the sort of person you could always count on if someone needed help.

Aidin had O-negative blood and donated regularly. When people asked him why, he would joke: “Among all these people, God chose me to have O- blood; He must have known I’m a hero.”

The informed source says: “Now, the same boy who always donated blood to his people was suffering from severe bleeding in an emergency room, and the hospital reportedly refused to admit him. Where is justice?”